Exploring the possibility of a predictable precision therapy of COPD with inclusion of glycopyrronium responsiveness: A real-world experience.

BACKGROUND

The advent of glycopyrronium responsiveness has opened the prospect of selective responsiveness-based prescription of bronchodilators-β2-agonists or anti-muscarinic agents (AMA) for COPD. Such a concept needs ratification through clinical trials.

METHODS

Stable COPD patients [post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <0.7] underwent serial glycopyrronium responsiveness [≥100 ml FEV1-improvement] after salbutamol before universal prescription of LABA-LAMA ± ICS as per guideline recommendation. At real-world follow-up, we noted the adverse and serious adverse events (exacerbations and hospitalizations) and, whenever possible, repeated spirometry in the similar fashion. Based on the initial glycopyrronium responsiveness, we divided the patients into glycopyrronium-sensitive and non-sensitive groups and compared the impact of treatment between them using spirometric variables (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75). We compared the 'trough'-FEV1 and 'total'-FEV1 (difference from the initial pre-bronchodilator to final post-dual-bronchodilator values) along with the frequency of exacerbation and hospitalization in each group.

RESULTS

The glycopyrronium-responsive and non-responsive groups (n = 30 for each) were similar demographically and on initial spirometry (pre-bronchodilator and post-salbutamol values). They received treatment for 162.4 ± 134.8 and 212 ± 118.1 days, respectively. The glycopyrronium-sensitive patients displayed significant improvement in both trough-FEV1 [0.17 ± 0.29 vs. 0.02 ± 0.2; (P = 0.0308)], total-FEV1 [0.32 ± 0.29 vs. 0.17 ± 0.21; (P = 0.0273) litres], in addition to trough FEF25-75 (P = 0.0204), total FEV1/FVC (0.0174) and total FEF25-75 (P = 0.0322). The exacerbations (P = 0.0056) were significantly lower in glycopyrronium-responsive patients.

CONCLUSION

The glycopyrronium-responsive COPD patients show a significantly better overall improvement including the significant change in trough and total FEV1 with significantly reduced exacerbations in the real-world observation. The revelation demands more research.